The One With The Football
"The One With The Football" is the ninth episode of the third season of Friends. It aired on November 21, 1996, serving as the Thanksgiving episode of the year. It was written by Ira Ungerlinger and directed by Kevin S. Bright. Plot It is Thanksgiving and after watching a football match, they decide to play football. Monica and Ross tell the others that they are not allowed to play as Monica broke his nose in the sixth Geller Cup on a Thanksgiving long ago. However, they decide to play anyway. Monica picks Joey and Phoebe, Ross picks Chandler and Rachel, who is upset about being last picked. As they play, Joey and Chandler meet a Dutch girl , Margha. They both try to impress her, and finally she picks Chandler (when Ross makes her choose). When he does a victory dance, she changes her mind and picks neither of them. They don't let Rachel play because she's really bad, but she gets so bored that she wanders off for a snack. Rachel is traded with Joey. The girls try to beat the men, making Phoebe show off her breasts to Chandler. During the last 30 seconds, Monica has no choice but to throw to Rachel, who scores. However, Ross and Monica argue about whether the touchdown was before or after the line, when Phoebe points out that they're still playing. The rest of the gang has Thanksgiving dinner, while Ross and Monica continue to fight over the ball. Cast and Crew Main Cast Jennifer Aniston - Rachel Green Courteney Cox - Monica Geller Lisa Kudrow - Phoebe Buffay Matt LeBlanc - Joey Tribbiani Matthew Perry - Chandler Bing David Schwimmer - Ross Geller Supporting Cast Suzanna Voltaire - Margha Crew Directed By: Kevin S. Bright Produced By: Ira Ungerlinger Written By: Ira Ungerlinger Trivia General *Suzanna Voltaire is from America, and does not have a Dutch accent. She added the accent while auditioning for Margha. When they found out she was American, the crew were shocked. *Number 1 in "UK's 6 Favorite Friends Episodes Countdown" *The two children on the swings in this episode are Marta Kauffman's children. * It isn't possible to tell whether the snap that no one could agree on occurred before or after the buzzer because of the cut to the timer as Monica yells "Hike!". *The uncut DVD version of the episode has a different ending. Monica and Ross decide toss the Geller Cup down the garbage chute. Phoebe is at the bottom, catching it for Monica, but as she's about to leave, Ross walks in to claim it for himself. ** Also, in the uncut DVD version, when Phoebe asks Margha to set the timer, she calls Phoebe 'Beefy', and when Monica trades Joey for Rachel, she says "That's great, there goes my last shred of self esteem." *Phoebe is wearing a "That Girl" T-Shirt. The star of "That Girl" is Marlo Thomas, who plays Rachel's mom. *Chandler doesn't like football but in this episode he is seen watching and playing it. (In the future episode The One With Chandler In A Box Chandler pretends to want to watch "the big game" and Phoebe says "You don’t have to do that, Ross and Joey aren’t here, you can watch the parade if you want." to which Chandler replies "Thanks."). *The game that Joey, Chandler and Ross were watching was between the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings. Goofs. *When they are holding Phoebe to prevent Monica throwing her the ball, Chandler and Joey switch sides between long-shots of the three and medium shots. *When Joey scores a touchdown, Monica states the score as being "7 to nothing". A touchdown in touch football is only worth one point (or in a lesser used version, six). Only if Joey had done a one-point conversion kick would the seventh point be obtained, but touch football uses two-point conversions, thus seven points is impossible. **When playing football recreationally, some people use seven points as a scoring method as it is similar to the professional scoring system. Episode Navigation Category:Friends Episodes Category:Season 3 Category:Friends